Hosai Mojaddidi – Practically Preparing for Ramadan , Imam Dawood Yasin, & Sister Emira Mustafa
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The speakers emphasize the importance of finding one's spiritual presence during quarantine, finding one's spirituality to manage time, and protecting one's behavior. They provide resources for learning about Hadith and mental health during MAC, including resources for understanding one's spiritual and mental health, balancing healthy eating, and finding balance within oneself. They stress the benefits of using freezer meals, avoiding waste, and taking care of one's health.
AI: Summary ©
Salam Alaikum everyone
welcome to the practically preparing for Ramadan workshop
Alhamdulillah we have Salah Jose and Imam DoDEA sin and myself
presenting. We thank you guys for your attendance in sha Allah and
we're going to begin with Gustavo Jose, on mentally preparing and
emotionally being feeling ready for the everything that
encompasses Ramadan. Vishal
Haim and hamdu lillah wa Salatu was Salam ala i should be even
more serene. Say that our Mowlana What have you been Mohammed some
Allahu alayhi wa sallam, while you Savio Salam, the stream and GIF
era ceremony aleikum wa rahmatullah wa barakatu Al
Hamdulillah. We are in the final stretch before this blessed month
of Ramadan, next week. So this is a time where a lot of people are,
again, just preparing for the month, just yesterday, Subhan,
Allah had three different sessions, all on preparation for
the month of Ramadan. So with that said, I was asked to speak a
little bit about a topic that I love emotional intelligence, as it
relates to Ramadan. So some of you may not know what emotional
intelligence is.
And what it is, is basically, in the most simplest terms, it's a
framework that helps you to manage your emotions, identify and manage
your emotions, and then also help other people manage their
emotions. And one of the really simple acronyms that you could
learn just to kind of stick or to have that definition stick is arm,
because A is the A stands for awareness, so to become really
self aware of yourself. And then the R relates to regulating your
emotions. And then the M is for managing emotions, of course, your
own as well as other people. So when you become more emotionally
intelligent, you really work on honing in these skills. And I came
across this framework several years ago, and as soon as I
started reading it, it just instantly spoke to me because I
found that everything that they were describing was really just
applying Islam. If we actually learn our deen and apply it, we
will become emotionally intelligent. And so that just, you
know, I started to delve into it deeper. And the more and more I
looked into it, I was convinced that this was a really great
modern tool to help to teach people really Dean and tarbiyah
and in the prophetic wisdoms of our of our tradition, and
Hamdulillah. So, years later, when I was speaking to Sheikh Hamza, he
actually told me about a hadith. That really was incredible when I
when he sent it to me, because I had always thought of this concept
of emotionally emotional intelligence being something that
was modern, right, in 1990, it was discovered.
And then we have Daniel Goleman, who's the kind of leading pioneer
on the topic. He's the one who really put it on the map right
that term? Well, that's what I thought until she Hamza mentioned
this hadith where he he said that the prophesy Sam said, but also an
ugly bothered Imani at toward the, toward the do Elena's which is
that, you know, after the basis of reasoning, after faith, is, you
know, is loving kindness towards people. And subhanAllah. That was
amazing because he is connecting intelligence, and again, emotional
management, right of other people. So in fact, which shouldn't
surprise us, right, because a lot of these modern ideas that we are
impressed by, if you actually dig a little deeper, you find that
they do have roots in tradition, and in religion, and somehow,
especially when it comes to our faith, because it is so it's so
deep, and it's covered. So many of these wonderful topics that
there's always, you know, you'll always find connections, and just
actually yesterday or the day before, on on Instagram, I posted
about this very thing that a lot of the modern tools that we use,
in fact, have traditional roots in our faith. So Alhamdulillah, I
wanted to now just talk about more about how we can understand
emotional intelligence practically and then tie it to Ramadan. So we,
I already gave you the definition of it. Now the qualities that you
want to develop to become emotionally intelligent, are five
and this is again, according to the works of Daniel Goleman. So
the first is to become self aware, which I mentioned, the second is
self regulation. The third is motivation. The fourth is empathy.
And then the fifth is social skills. And if you really look at
each one of them Subhanallah you'll find that they do actually,
they are skills that we should absolutely have every day of the
year, but certainly in the month of Ramadan, because the month of
Ramadan, again is a time where we're really are being put to the
test right we should see it as that it's an opportunity to really
bring out the best of whatever is suppressed within us because a lot
of times during the year of course with work and skill
joules and all of the other routines that we get bogged down
by we, that part of us that true essence of our nature, which is,
of course, our soul gets lost. And so Ramadan is a time for it to
emerge. And for us to really discover a lot about ourselves,
and our connection with Allah subhanho wa Taala and emotional
intelligence, if you understand it and apply it, it can certainly
help you. So for example, the first quality right to become self
aware, what does that mean? Well, you know, first and foremost, at a
certain point, and, you know, I work a lot with youth. And I think
it's imperative that parents and educators teach youth, you know,
all of them, of course, the regular education that we want
them to have, but also really, to help them understand themselves.
And so temperament, for example, is something that we, you know,
for historically always taught, you know, it was very much a part
of our tradition to teach about temperament means edge, we call it
an Arabic, which is to know, like, you know, basically what, you
know, what is your, what's your blueprint? How do you operate, you
know, like, we understand operating systems, right? We have
devices, there's the apple, iOS camp, and then there's the Android
camp, right? And we know, we understand that these are two
different systems, and they have different operating systems. Well,
human beings are similar, right? We operate in different
wavelengths. And in different levels, we use certain things
appeal to some they don't to others. So really focus or
understanding yourself, for example, the most simple
definitions that we all should know are, are you an extrovert or
an introvert, because that actually does really help to
understand yourself, if you are the type of person that when
you're around large settings, or social settings, where there's a
lot of stimuli, you feel affected by it, and it, it just drains you,
you are likely an introverted person. And if you're the
opposite, where when you're alone too much, it starts to nag at you
and you feel uneasy and you'd like to be around people, you always
have some sounds or something in the background, because you don't
like silence, then you likely are an extrovert. Just that simple
understanding of yourself can really help to know what your
comfort levels are, for example, you know, Ramadan is a time of
community, right? So a lot of people, I mean, now we're in
COVID. But outside of that, a lot of times we there's the social
element, right. And so some people, that's a really attractive
thing, like they can't wait to come to the Torah, we personally
have stars and to go house, if they're hopping house to house,
you know, during the month, because they love connecting with
their community. And that's beautiful. And for some people,
that's what they need, because maybe they've been disconnected.
Whereas other people, that doesn't sound as appealing because, again,
their nature is that they want to retreat, they actually want to be
at home more. So if you are only receiving one message, though,
like let's say you're reading a book, or you're listening to a
talk, and the message is you should be you know, congregating
and meeting with people and you know, reaping the benefits of the
GEMA, then you may feel lost in that, you know, like, what about
if I just don't want to, you know, or vice versa, maybe you're on the
opposite extreme, where you really are going so inward, which of
course, is your right, but you don't want to meet with anybody.
And you don't really want to have any social connection, that maybe
you need to find that balance, right, which is really what,
again, first becoming self aware, is, is learning about yourself and
understanding that nature. But then the second part of it is,
where's the balance, because both of these extremes wouldn't quite
fit. We are social, right? Our dean is a social Dean. But we also
have the element of certainly of Halawa of spiritual retreat. And
so that's why understanding these things about yourself then takes
you gradually to the next step, which is I have to regulate these
things. Because if I draw a line and say, Well, this is just who I
am, and I don't want to participate in this X, Y, or Z,
and I'm not really realizing that just because something fits for me
or feels right for me, is it right, right? That's really the
question because the perfect example, of course, is the
prophesy Saddam and his entire life is known to us because so
that we can model ourselves after him. And he showed us just how he
was able to balance he, of course, had the ability to or he, he
showed us how to retreat, right, I mean, his entire, you know,
beginning of his prophecy was all about his need to pull away and to
just be isolated and to really contemplate and to do all that.
And then he also showed us the importance of being social and
being in the in the community and being active in the community. So
his life is a is a perfect example of how we can find that balance.
But this is what again, being emotionally intelligent does it
kind of forces you to see yourself right to forces you to see and
understand yourself and then do that compare and contrast with the
best of examples of prophesy centum. So you really pay
attention to all of those nuances about you, those little quirks
that you have, and you know, look where do I need to filter what do
I need to enhance and work on, on you know, improve
And then what do I need to change? And so when you gradually move
from self awareness to self regulation, which is the second
quality, now it's about how do I do that. And that's where a book
like, like, here, I have purification of the heart, right?
This is an excellent book for anybody who's in the self
regulation phase, which is, I need to learn how to control myself,
right. And this is also I mean, by extension, it is a bit of self
awareness to because you have to read these diseases of the heart,
which is what the book is about, in order to know what diseases you
have, but then they also teach you how to control that right how to
rid yourself of the diseases. So the, you know, the, we have in our
tradition to Ischia, which is the science of purification,
purification, yet purify purifying one soul, one's heart, one's
tongue, there's a lot of emphasis on action, right, where you are
aware of what the problems are. And now you have to do the actions
that follow. And so that is where, you know, the second quality of
emotional intelligence comes in. And this is a life long pursuit,
like when we talk about the skill, it's not something that you just
do once and then you're done with every single one of us, every
single day of our lives have to work on this. And Ramadan is
actually a time where we're kind of catapulted right into this
work, because all of these things start to emerge, you're gonna
start to see maybe some bad habits come out, because you know, it's
normal, right, you're cut off from your, your normal routines, your,
your coffee in the morning, whatever, you know, cravings you
have, and or sleep is interrupted. So those changes can definitely
affect our mood, and our behavior. And so we're gonna start to see
maybe some negative qualities within ourselves, right, maybe
we're less patient, we're hangry, as they say. And we kind of in the
beginning, need to kind of pay attention, like what's going on
here, and realize that all of that is part of that filtration
process, it has to come out, like let it all come out. And then find
your, your balance and rhythm, because you realize that this is,
you know, the month to do that and maximize your time in, in all of
the things that we're taught to do, right prayers, the bad, the
good, Quran, all of that is to help us to manage that. So self
regulation, when it went and again, outside of Ramadan is all
of these things. In Ramadan, it's specific to really using your time
wisely, like your time is so important in this blessed month.
And if you wasted or squandered, doing, doing anything, of no use,
for example, yesterday, during this workshop that I had, there
was a brother who was mashallah very honest. And may Allah bless
him and reward him because he was vulnerable. And he shared with
everybody that one of his struggles is that he actually
watches a lot of television, during Ramadan. And it's something
that he, he just, he doesn't like himself doing it, he actually
hates it, he does it. But he's kind of, I think habituated to
that. And, you know, it's a way to buy time, there's, there's,
sometimes the days are so drawn out, and the hunger can overwhelm
you. So we turn to these different mediums to escape. And so he was
saying that that's what he does. And he was really sitting with a
lot of guilt with that. So I just, you know, I wanted to sympathize,
because, you know, he was isolated from his community, he didn't have
a car to be able to do certain things. So there are people who
are in circumstances like that, and that's why we have to be
compassionate in the way we answer to people, but I just told him
that Okay, so if that's something you're struggling with the maybe
the rule that you have for yourself, and this is where again,
he had to regulate it, yes to regulate himself, is that you're
going to do it better, you know, if you if you want to watch TV,
for example, or social media, then just have a rule that says I'm not
going to indulge in things that I know are absolutely wasteful and
harmful, or completely haram, but maybe educational may be
beneficial and there are options for us. So you know, kind of put
imposing that rule upon yourself that in this month, the time is so
precious, that even if I have these you know weaknesses that you
know I'm going to try to somehow you know, work around them and
make sure that I am not again harming myself or squandering this
the time of this month. So that's you know, self regulation and then
we have you know, the third quality which is motivation and
there's so much to say about each of these by the way I'm you know,
just because our comments are brief here I can't get into all of
them. But there's I've done several talks on this before but
just in the context of Ramadan you know, to be motivated, I love that
ALLAH SubhanA wa Tada you know, kind of has made the reward of of
Ramadan mysterious to us, like we really have no idea just what the
rewards are. And he even in one verse says that the fast is best
for you, if only you knew. And I love just even the phrasing of
that because it's really helping us understand that there are
things that we there's a lot of things that we don't know, right,
but when it comes to the reward of our fast and the sacrifice of, of
the fact that we're doing and all of the other things that we do
aren't
charity, our prayers are to us in this month, they are secrets only
known to Allah subhana wa Tada. And that I think, serves as a
great motivator in that all of the things that we second guess about
ourselves that we feel a lot of self doubt about. And, you know,
guilt over our past is that this is a reset, this is the Ultimate
Reset. And that's why when we have the gift of witnessing Ramadan, we
really have to look at it as like a, you know, this is a,
a, you know, an extension, right, it's an opportunity from Allah
subhanaw taala. For us to reach back and and to get closer to him,
but he's extending the opportunity to us it's a gift. It's a
windfall, right, because it's time it's, it's, it's so it's so much,
there's so much Baraka, like I said, that we can't really know,
but to have that as a motivating factor. And then, of course, you
know, to look at the, I mean, when you're reading all of the
beautiful commentary on just the rewards of the month, and the
different times, for example, when you're breaking your fast, when
you're waking up for the hedger, then you're praying at those times
those beautiful times of again, intimacy with with Allah subhanaw
taala. And then all of the other word deeds that we're doing just
that there's this, again, this, this, you know, this, this mystery
to it, but it's for, for us incentive to be incentivized to do
those things. And so just to find those, you know, to, to pursue
those deeds, and also to increase our, our reading of the book of
Allah spa, this is probably, I mean, it is, we all know that
Milan is the month of the Quran, it's the month that we are
supposed to really connect with the book of Allah smart. So that's
also another really important part of being motivated is that, you
know, finding goals that connect you to the Quran. And so if you
can read the Quran Alhamdulillah, then a good motivating thing to do
just to keep yourself going. And if you're part of the masjid, even
coming to throw away and praying those prayers, and doing a huddle
of the Quran should be something that gets you up every day, like,
it's another day to, you know, again, finish my Jers, whether I'm
reading it myself, or I'm coming to the throw away, and I'm
listening to it, or I'm listening to it at home, there are a
multitude of ways that we can really have that connection. But
having these goals, right, this sense of accomplishment is also
one way that we can feel motivated. So that's the third
quality, then the fourth quality has to do with empathy. And I love
this, you know, because I remember when I was younger, and we learned
about Ramadan, that always stuck with me, even as a student in a
Muslim student in a class and seventh eighth grade, when the,
you know, the chapters or the in class, when we would start talking
about Islam, and this topic of Ramadan would come up that was
always framed, as, you know, Muslims fast in Ramadan, as
obviously an act of worship, but also to sympathize right with
other people who are hungry, and who are, you know, in these
impoverished states, so it was always framed as an action that
Muslims do, to bring about this concept of empathy. And I really
appreciated that growing up. And, and even now, I think we all know
that that's one of the central reasons why we, we fast, just
with, you know, withholding all of these indulgences that we partake
in every single day of the year, for a month, and not even the
entire month, by the way, it's just during daylight hours, right.
But sometimes we, we forget that, you know, once the sun sets,
people do tend to kind of default sometimes into those habits, but
just those daylight hours with restricting yourself with holding
yourself so that you can feel the pangs of hunger, so that you can
really realize that there are, you know, millions, if not billions of
people in the world who are in that circumstance, but it's not a
choice for them, it's not something to do as an option. This
is their daily reality. And they don't really have, you know, a
huge Iftar or so who are waiting for them at different intervals,
you know, during their day or week or month, they just basically
survive on what they have. So empathizing with people, for you
know, during the fast and also the charity, right, we know that the
prompts I said it was most charitable during the month of
Ramadan. And that's also something we should do. So this is the time
to really think about all the different organizations or even
individuals that you may know, that are in need, and to, you
know, to just put aside all of the things that are trivial things
that sometimes we, again, we, we give intuitive because, you know,
buying consumption is enough, right? If you're constantly just,
you know, on these now we can shop online, so everything is so easy
and convenient. But we do it almost, you know, automatically
without even thinking sometimes Oh, I like this, let me go click
and buy click and buy. And we do that so much. And sometimes half
of the stuff remains in boxes and we don't even use it because it's
something that again, it's a modern
phenomenon for those who are privileged to have that, but it's
a time to stop that right and to not indulge in that, you know,
that habit and to rather do that for other things, right other
causes, like donations, you know, launch good, whatever campaigns
that you see that you want to support, but really amping up your
charity for the sake of Allah subhanho data. So that's, you
know, empathy. And there's, again, so many, so much more we can say
about all of these qualities. But the last one, the last quality of
emotional intelligence is social skills. And that's the other
incredible thing is that again, when you look at the month of
Ramadan, we really do have an opportunity to, to maximize our
growth in all of these five qualities because social skills is
something that, as I mentioned before, we are Dean that is the
dean of Gemma we we do, you know, encourage being social, obviously,
to everybody's, you know, ability, but we come together for prayer,
we come together for to break our fast we should anyway, we do a lot
of things together, we're fasting together. So the idea of
developing those social skills is really important as well. I know,
during COVID, for example, it's been researched as well, that the
mask served as a barrier for a lot of people. And it's been a little
awkward, right coming out of that, you know, that. That state of just
not really having very limited contact with people not really
talking much to suddenly being back into your community. It's
hard for some people, especially if their temperament is more
introverted, but we do have to remember that, you know, the
prophets I said, I'm in the most difficult times was always
accessible. And he was always smiling. It was, you know, so many
descriptions of him always describe him as having the most
cheerful disposition, welcoming, warm, giving the sounds we know,
of course, it's Sana, replying is far from just knowing these basic
rules about you know, when you're with in gatherings, for example,
you know, if you're in a pair, you don't talk secretly, or in a
language that a third person or other people would know, around
you, you don't want to exclude people. So anything that that, you
know, reminds us to not be to be responsible when we're in social
settings, is really important. And everybody has to again, look at
where the area that they need to work on. But it's something that
is easily managed, if you're just again, reading the Sunnah, and
really internalizing his way and starting to adopt this attitude,
that everything that I do that is in conflict with the way of the
messenger of allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is not good
enough. And I need to undo that and adopt his way. Because this is
how, you know, I mean, it's just a fact that if you want to be a
better human being, then the only path to do that is to follow his
way. And so, really accepting that and, and working on that in the
month of Ramadan in all of these areas, right. So and have the
letters, again, so much to say about emotional intelligence, I
definitely encourage all of us to know about this framework to
understand it. And if you have young children, even as young as
preteens, or adolescents, I teach these classes to that demographic
for a reason, because it's a tool, this is a skill set. And the
earlier they can learn it and develop it, the better it will be
for them in every area of their life. Because again, it helps them
to really appreciate the value of our deen and the prophesies in
this example, because all of these beautiful wisdoms were were given
to us centuries ago, by way of his teachings and so Hamdulillah you
know, I encourage everyone to look into this, I encourage everyone to
inshallah really work on managing themselves and in this month,
because this is really what Ramadan is about. And on that
note, I wanted to actually share for those of you who may have this
the book purification of the heart, one of the appendices in
the, in the in the, at the end of the book is actually entirely on
Ramadan. And it's a it's an excellent, there's an excellent
section here that I really think everybody should read. It's a few
pages but there's a part here that I wanted to just read for all of
you Inshallah, so
Bismillah
the Lord to lower the believer into doubt is Satan's game. To
protect oneself from this is a personal responsibility. We are
explicitly told that Satan's Guile is weak, and that he has no
authority except over those who choose to make themselves
vulnerable and who are deluded, so to shield against Satan's
whisperings, one must guard one's creed and sound belief and shun
shady devices. This entails confirming one's worship
About the Sunnah, or established practice of the Prophet sallallahu
alayhi wa sallam. It requires deepening one's knowledge in Islam
and its various sciences. If Satan sees that he cannot assail one in
matters of creed and belief, he then comes through the door of
shalhevet lust and desire. Our desires are integral parts of
normal creation and function, but when they evolve into masters that
we consciously or unconsciously serve, this is a problem that can
become severe enough to drag us outside the fold of guidance. For
Satan. The story can be lucrative, especially with consumers of
media, who receive a steady stream of messages that make le
sensuousness and excessiveness appear normal. The Prophet
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam told his companions to be wary of Satan
and his designs for he flows in man's veins. Just as alcohol flows
in the blood delivering its debilitating effects to the brain,
liver and other organs. So to do Satan's machinations and
enticements. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said
that fasting is half of patients and patience is a quality
indispensable for a successful life and afterlife. Satan traffics
impatience and despair, while fasting exposes the folly of both
the scholars of spiritual purification and advise this Be
patient with regard to food, which is the primary urge and with
regard to *, which is the secondary urge, conquer these to
the rest becomes easy. There is another Hadith stating that
patience is half of Eman. So fasting is a quarter of Eman.
There is yet another Hadith stating that God, the Exalted
multiplies the reward for a good action tend to 700 times except
for fasting. Fasting is my own and I shall reward it, which indicates
the enormity of the reward for proper fasting. God says those who
are patients shall be rewarded without measure. In chapter 39
Verse 10, fasting and patients are deeply rooted patients to is an
important key to the opening of favours from God hamdulillah and
there's so much more in this amazing chapter on Ramadan. So I
advise everyone who has the book, purification of the heart by
Sheikh Hamza Yusuf to please read that section as a good review. In
preparation for this month. May Allah subhana wa Tada again enable
all of us and gift all of us and bless all of us with the ability
to witness the coming of this blessed month of Ramadan inshallah
Allama benevolent Ramadan Aloma benevolent Ramadan Allahumma
Bonilla Ramadan mela is planning to give us the best Ramadan of our
lives. May He accept our fast our prayers, our doors, our charity or
Likud our recitation of the Quran when he fortify our hearts and our
faith. May He give us conviction in our faith and may we may he
guide our children and give them strength in their identity as
Muslims and inshallah bring Sakina and blessing to our homes. I mean
your anatomy and I mean the anatomy just like morphine and was
said on one acre, a lot of time and effort hula ra Fein or
Philadelphia Kosala Hain on Philomel Qurani with a kill Hakeem
Alomar aluminum iron foreigner when finally Valentina was in
Milan with a couple and with leukemia Robin Alameen Aloha
Melissa Illa magenta who said no other Tesla has the inertia
discipline along with our inner maturity and fusina women say at
your Malita was more noccalula Illa Illa and let's talk for like
one or two weeks they will slowly long while sad now Mohamed in one
early was just named Medicaid the owner of Bella lemon
law Salam alaykum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh
under the underneath I've been asked just to share a few thoughts
on Ramadan and and this idea that
you know
some kind of preparation but preparation in a way that that
perhaps excites us and
I think it's starting off for this Ramadan
this is special every Ramadan is special no doubt.
But I would say for me, this is something special in particular
because this Ramadan for me now marks
to two lives if you will.
So I became Muslim when I was 26.
And now this year becomes my 26th Ramadan.
So I have half of my life as a non Muslim and half of my life now as
a Muslim.
And I say that because
As I want to
share with you that in, in this month,
you know, we perhaps che upon, tries this kind of like one last
assault
to create doubt, right? If you can't get us not too fast he's
going to get us to have, he's going to try and work on us to
have doubt that's his game.
And I think about, you know,
what life was like, you know, kind of right up to that first time
that you fast.
And whatever doubts that a person may have.
You can say with absolute sincerity, I'm sorry, with
absolute Yaqeen that whatever you think you can't do with the
intention, Allah will see you through it.
Like whatever you think you can't do, that Allah will see you
through that. And as I think about this month,
I want to share with you just some thoughts
of some notes that I wrote
some time ago, but I think that they are appropriate.
And I think about this month
it's as if we are hosting a most unique, most honored and most
generous guest
and it's a guest that we are blessed to host once a year for
the duration of a month.
The guest arrives at appointment at an appointed time and departs
at an appointed time.
And the beauty of this guest is that brings the most sought after
gifts for the spiritual Esperen. Right. If we're aspiring in our
relationship with Allah subhanaw taala, then this guest brings the
most sought after gifts. It brings God's mercy and generosity and
disperses it to those who avail themselves to it like no other
time of the year.
It brings us deeds that draws nearer to our Lord and His
pleasure in his garden, like no other time in the year. It
distances us from the hellfire and protects us from shelf lawn and
his waswas like no other time in the year
it brings with the fragrance of the garden. It brings life to our
hearts with the ether with eternal speech of the EverLiving creator,
a creator of the Quran, obviously, we're talking about here, and that
feels our homes and families friends and loved ones.
And I think about this one
aspect here in terms of in terms of
protects us from ship on and his misgivings.
Because
what we find in this game is that show up on will tell us something
or whisper something to us.
And either we're going to listen to it or we're not
and that's the game
and normally what we have learned from our scholars and from what we
understand from our tradition is that she'll Bama normally just
kind of put something forward to you once and if you don't respond
to it, he'll move on to something else but the knifes the knobs will
continue to kind of push you towards that thing or pull you
towards that thing.
And so we think about Ramadan
as I said and this kind of protection from Shell pond
beautiful Hadith, right foot Halab wobble Jana
will overlook a blob Jahannam will Susilo sheltering, like what a
gift that is from Allah Subhana Allah to Allah that Allah says
that the that at Ramadan, that that the doors of Jannah are flung
open.
And the doors of Jahannam are locked.
And the shell Thien are chained
and so our teachers taught taught us that all that is good,
will be pouring out from heaven.
And that's a gift of this month. And all energy if you will, this
is a term that we will use in this way just for the description of
this of negativity or any type of net we'll just call it negative
aspect which the doors of Jahannam they're closed.
And the those types of whisperings from shelf on are closed off and
it says all of this
is to aid one to not be distracted in the month. I just saw that is
so incredible, right? Like everything is multiplied in this
month of the actions that we're doing, and then I'm going to make
it easier for you to even do it in this month.
And so I think about this in terms of, of a gift right so this guest
is Ramadan, the month of Quran the month of late Okada, the month of
mercy, the month of forgiveness, the month of liberation from the
hellfire, right the month of patience, the month of reflection,
the month of reflection and renewed spiritual commitment, the
month of charity for the underresourced in solidarity with
the underserved. The month when the deeds are multiplied the month
of the pre Dawn meals of of Sahaba and the month of pm and title we
and I just think to myself, like
you know, when when we are
having a relationship with his guest
I'm reminded of the tradition of the one who believes in Allah when
can a human be liable human action when can a human beloved Yamanaka
for your cream Jarrell but the one who believes in a line is last in
the last day last day they let him honor his neighbor will encounter
you and be liable Yamanaka for you cream?
Enough
for your cream Jericho. And so and then also in another
meeting as well to that let him honor his guest right when Kenny
unbeknownst to him away for who? Right? Let him honor his guest. So
here, the question is, how are we upholding our obligation honoring
our guests of Ramadan? That's the question that I want us to ask.
Right? Like, if we know that a guest is coming, what preparations
do we make? Make sure everything is in order. We might even hire
somebody to clean the house and take care of all of these things.
And all these affairs now we have this month coming. And we have
this house right here.
How do we clean this house? And how do we prepare this house for
this guest that is coming.
So hamdulillah as we think about this month,
to think about it, you know, in that way, and as mashallah our
sister
Jose mentioned here
that there is emotional intelligence, that as required.
You know, I think that there are some practical things as well,
too. And just in terms of our spiritual intelligence that we
want to think about one of the things that I was just reading
with our students been reading for the past couple of weeks on campus
after for each day, we've been reading the etiquettes of fasting
by mom was Ali and his book l deitel Hidayat, the beginning of
guidance. And one of the things that he said was,
like, he said, Do not approach the eating and the meal.
As if you want to make up for the food that was lost, and not eaten
throughout the day, he said, because that is the absolute
opposite of what the goal and the intention of the month is because
the whole idea of the month is to lessen one's desires. And now
maybe this is going to anger some people. Maybe it won't however, I
say that because I give this advice that perhaps we look to
simplify our meals during this month. Look to simplify our meals
during this why? Because meals take time mealtime meal prep takes
time, shopping takes time. And all of that time Yes, we are. We want
to have a good meal we want to have that but just for these 30
days, just for these 30 days the best 30 days throughout the year
look and see if we can approach this Ramadan with a different type
of approach to our food.
One that is just some simple now I'll share this with you again, I
don't say in any way to to to say anything other than I just wanted
to test to see what this was like.
So my first 10 days of last Ramadan only on dates in water 21
Seven answer for several Iftar in South Africa we
and I drink water and I'm still here hamdulillah from the for the
love of Allah subhanho wa Taala
antibiotic Allah not to boast, but to show you what Allah can do. I
wanted to go the 30 days but I felt bad for my family. Because I
wasn't joining them in meals but just because I wanted to say two
things I wanted to see what was the meaning of us wedding as we
hear in the Hadith of the prophets of salaam lived on data in water
for three months. And hadith of it surely Allah why not? Right? So if
he can do for three months, can we do 30 days? No, I'm not saying
everyone should have dates and water for the entire month. We can
try and roast them we can put them in a curry we can. Different
things. I'm just teasing. What I'm saying is that it showed me what
the possible end
My schedule didn't change to doing all of the things that I had to
do. Why because then you also understand that with this is like,
this is a means. But the real, the reality of all thing is Allah's
tofi in this, because we can eat a king's meal and not be satiated.
Well, we can have dates and water and get up, have our day, be with
our family be in total, we do all of the other things that we need
to do. So in this preparation, maybe in this month, spiritually,
we look to push ourselves outside of our comfort zone of what we've
been around, no one does that, no doubt, we have to get up at times
that we normally don't get up. We have to, you know, be without food
and water for times that we normally don't and so within it
within itself, right Ramadan has the ability to do that. But let's
think about perhaps other things that we're doing that we can begin
to eliminate. Because, as I said
before, and I'll share this again, is that is that as we look at
Ramadan, and we look at other aspects of the deen, Ramadan falls
into this category, that Ramadan is proximity to God, it's gaining
nearness to Allah subhanaw taala through subtraction,
right through subtraction. So if we look for multiple places within
our lives of where we can subtract, let's see what this
Ramadan will look like.
And that we pray mashallah, that this is, you know, one of the,
the, if not the greatest Ramadan that we've had.
Well, now the valley gonna leave it. That's not difficult for Allah
subhanho wa Taala to filter that. Right. And then one of the things
that I'll just end with here and I,
I kind of I feel like, I always like to share this is that we
really become people when Allah says, We really look at this idea
and we really look to to, to to
what can I say that we really look to live this verse of Quran Allah
says, you know, Allah says in Quran
you have any Adam
who Xena to command equally immeasurable cola washable wala
234 In hula, US la hibel Mystery fee. There are children of Adam
adorn yourselves, adorn yourselves when you enter into the places of
worship and eat and drink and do not waste where he does not love
those who waste. And so think about
food or other things in this month. Think about this.
That may be I take a few sips of this and if foreign I send it
down, I walk away. Where is it what's left inside of the bottle.
Doesn't matter to me. There's another bottle right there on the
counter. I'll just grab another one. Right. So think about this
now that would be considered waste. And I just spent my entire
day got up for 200 prayed,
had Soho made dua fasted, made my intention faster, read Quran gave
charity made vicar visited the Sikh attended a janazah did all of
these things that could be possible in one day in Ramadan
broke my fast made dua do eyes Musa jab, the salt, the prayer is
accepted. But then at the time of my meal, I will load my plate up,
not eat all of the food and then throw food away. And Allah just
says in Quran that He does not love. So I go through the entire
day, and the state in which he is pouring out His love, because of
all of the actions that we did, only to flip it into that side and
be in a category that he described with his own words of saying that
he doesn't love those who waste. So maybe let's try to make a
promise to ourselves to Allah to our community, to our akhira to
whatever it is that we look with intentionality that any type of
any morsel of food
will not will be consumed by us. Okay, now there's one dispensation
that I allow,
which is if someone else makes you a plate of food,
and that is because people I feel they miss appropriate the Sunnah.
And they say the prophets Islam was generous, so they'll load food
and food and food and food and one more scoop and one more scoop and
one more scoop onto your plate and you're looking at you like, I
couldn't eat that between now and Tuesday.
And then I'm supposed to go pray Tada, we're and have presence with
that. Right? And so, if that is the case, maybe we can eat a
portion of it, maybe eat a portion of it after total we I don't know.
But I'm just saying that. We really look you get my point,
right. We're trying not to you know,
I'm trying to to remove this cognitive dissonance to say
Alhamdulillah the upper arm and it was a con or Jana Mina Muslimeen,
make dua and then throw food into the garbage.
Right. So this is a challenge that I put out to myself and I put out
to all of us here who are present in sha Allah, we can pass it on to
those who are absent as well too, that this is part of our spiritual
preparation, right that we will that we will commit ourselves to
not be people who waste
in this month in sha Allah becomes habituated and we move forward
with that business. Pamela, Donna, so those are just a few a brief
thoughts Alhamdulillah as we prepare for this month, and I
think that you know, 100 law says to her say she read the DUA at the
end, Olam, Baraka, Nephi bhakti ala a young wish, well, the Alisha
Shaban will live in Ramadan, Allah blesses in the remaining days and
nights of shotgun and allow us to experience I like that. Personally
I like that translation allow us to experience Ramadan, with all of
its gifts, with all of its gifts that Allah subhanaw taala that we
know of, and that we don't know of all of the gifts that we know and
that we don't know facilitated by ALLAH SubhanA wa Tada who is the
most generous and in this month
you know puts out of generosity and deals with us in a way that is
just unimaginable. And may Allah subhanaw taala continue to to
bless his community and its organizers of this community and
the members of this community to facilitate what it does in aiding
people to have a beautiful month of Ramadan masala low wanna say
that Muhammad in 170, Sleeman Kathira Alameen Salam aleikum?
I want to sit on my
I want to sincerely thing because the other Jose and Imam do would
you seen because they made my job so much easier, Mashallah. It was
the perfect Prelude into this workshop. Because when we think
about all of the aspirations that we want to accomplish, me myself,
I have four boys, mashallah I work and I love doing community
projects, whether it be with kids or women in the building
sisterhood. So I realized that coming into Ramadan, I always felt
like I was in survival mode. And I was tired of it. I said, How can I
shift gears and make myself thrive during this time? How can I be
inspired by all of these amazing lectures, these inspirational
talks and turn it into reality within our lives? So Hamdulillah
I,
I've studied the corporate business strategies, and I've also
my passion is analytical *. So tying in a lot of these
concepts that we learned, I formulated a lot of the worksheets
in this workbook, so you're gonna hear a lot of the repetition of
what they've already mashallah brought us to, but in formats that
we can interpret them into our lives and organize ourselves. So
you're gonna see worksheets, you're gonna see tips and tricks,
you're gonna have checklists, and resource sheets, everything at
your disposal on Shala. So I'm just gonna keep go through this
binder.
So the first thing I like to do is I like to have a stop and reflect
what does your typical daily schedule will look like? Went on a
consistent basis. Some of you guys might be work some parents, some
might be students, what is your daily schedule look like? When you
stop and you break that down? Can you think about those items on
your daily schedule, that are absolutely necessary tasks?
Can you think of things that you can break down in that schedule
that might not be necessary? And then for the things that are
absolutely necessary? Do you think that we can find ways to enhance
it so that we can better utilize our time, like Imam just spoke
about, be simplifying our meals? I mean, cooking is something that we
all have to do. But do we have to spend two hours creating feasts,
that most times we're not going to be able to eat after we break our
fast. So being conscious and reflecting on what we have to do
what's necessary for us on a daily basis, and then putting the steps
in place so that we can shorten that time that it's committed from
us. It's just something good to get into
have the habit of doing on a consistent basis. Just keep
reflecting on that.
So one thing I like to say is
for some of the unnecessary tasks that we do, what are some
unnecessary tasks that you guys? Can anybody in the audience shouts
them out? Can you think of any
social media is a very big one. That's a very big, big one for
many people these days. So in my bad swapped section, it just again
has you reflecting. So if you are in social media, and you become
overloaded, as Sarah Jose said, maybe set some time limits for
yourself. You know, instead of being on there for two hours, say,
I'm only going to give myself 30 minutes, or you can try and go the
whole month without it. Other alternatives are there are amazing
speakers and people to follow that give you inspirational Ramadan
tips that get you engaged, the listening, you can recite code,
and together listen to help you kind of keep you in line. So
utilize the resources that you have to your benefits.
And then there's lots of other options. For example, if you are
somebody who likes to watch the TV and movies during your downtime,
there are so many really positive lectures, Islamic movies,
inspirational positive shows, that you can gravitate towards during
this month just to make your time a little bit more productive and
enhanced inshallah.
Gonna let you guys just read through that, we'll keep going
inshallah.
One of the thing that was mentioned a lot is food
preparation. It's the effects that our food has on us. So one of the
biggest concepts I've learned is that within ourselves, we have to
learn how to balance the different parts of who we are. So we have
the mind, the body, and then the heart. So our mind is kind of like
our intellectual goals, those aspirations, our heart is are
those emotional connections, or as San Jose said, those purification
elements of the heart, and then our bodies, our physical needs,
our physical parts? I want you guys to think when you are
extremely hungry, can you go and maybe ace that exam?
Not usually. What about have you heard some really bad sad news
that have has you physically in anguish? Like, I'm sorry, that has
you emotionally in anguish, what happens to your physical energy
levels, a lot of times they're down. So being conscious of what
it takes as an individual, to be productive, and all elements is
understanding all these different parts of ourselves. So one of the
things I like to say is for our physical selves, being conscious
of the types of food that we put into our body, and the effects it
has on us is important. Subhan Allah and our prophetic sunnah.
There are so many foods that are mentioned. And when we think about
these foods, we look and we see all of their health benefits.
Like Subhanallah, I get goosebumps thinking about that. Because what
we're taught in our subnet is not just lessons to Yeah, okay, that's
a yummy treat. Subhanallah there's so much wisdom and benefits to us
as individuals. If we are eating a lot of you know, deep fried oreos,
chicken, all this heavy stuff, are we gonna have the energies to get
to data, we're,
if we want to set a goal that every night we're getting to data,
we're, we're gonna break it down. What are some of the practical
steps that we can put in place to actually achieve those goals?
So food is a really big one.
A lot of people say well, I like my food, you know, it's my
tradition. It's my culture. And that's absolutely true and
necessary, it's a positive thing. So instead of just throwing out
the tradition, keep the tradition but refine the recipes. There are
a lot of healthy alternatives to some of the heavier elements in
our recipes that taste just as good take just as much time but
will have a different effect on our energy levels.
So I go through quite a few
and you guys can get the idea inshallah.
So,
me personally for Ramadan, I don't want to make it about food.
I don't want to spend honestly any of my time in the kitchen,
preparing, cooking and cleaning up after it. A lot of this know how
much time that can take. So personally, what I've done I was a
family of six I
would cook and prepare all of my meals for three months, one month
prior to Amazon, one month for the month of Ramadan, and then one
month after, so that everything was done that I didn't have to
think about worrying about food at all.
So this is one of my, this was one of my family's personal.
One of the things that and excuse me, that helped enhance my time
during Ramadan the most. Because when we actually like that
schedule I told you guys to think about where are all of our time
goes on a daily basis, a lot of it ends up going to food.
So it would take me maybe six, seven days of hard work, but then
three months of not thinking about it. So I go through a lot of
different tips and tricks on food preparation in here. And a lot of
the myths that people have. So typically at these type of
workshops, I work so you have had food provided, and people would
eat and enjoy ahead of time so that you guys can have the energy
for this long lecture and discussion. But what I don't tell
them is all of the food is actually freezer meals. And then
after they've eaten it, they're like What? No, because knowing the
little tips and tricks and actually trying and giving it a
chance, you realize that there's not much of a difference. And then
you kind of gravitate your diet, and you make good choices based on
that. So imagine lots of soups, stews, chilies.
And if you don't want to actually have fully cooked meals, then just
focus on one part of it. Just marinate your meats, that by
itself, think about it. If we had instead of marinating one
different kind of meat every single day, we marinated maybe
five pounds of it and had it over the course of a few days. Does
that not simplify and save time in the long run, save with
cleanliness, things just throw it on the food processor, wash it one
time. So Subhanallah these little tips and tricks really help us
maximize our time. And food prep is a very big helpful one. Now we
don't we don't have as much time we have about one week left proto
Milan. So a couple of sisters asked me well, we only have one
week left, how much food prep can we actually get done in one week,
you can get a lot done every day this week for the next maybe six,
seven days, double your meals you're cooking anyway, just double
it and freeze one, then you'll have at least six, seven days
worth of meals for those days where you want to make sure you
get to where you want to make sure you do cam, but you want to make
sure that your family is being fed.
Another option would again, just do meet marination get all of that
out of the way pick one day and do all your food prep. These little
tips and tricks help. For me personally, I am not quite at the
extreme level mashallah as Imam dude. But I will only do smoothies
for breakfast I'll do a date smoothie with bananas every day
for so hard. And honestly that makes me feel full. It gives me
the energy levels. And after Ramadan with this healthy meal
preparation, I leave it feeling so revived physically. So Subhanallah
it's not like the Ramadan Ramadan is it's not supposed to be a
burden on us. If we actually go into it the right mindset, we feel
all of its benefits, even its physical benefits.
So yeah, there's lots of tips and tricks here. One thing I got I get
asked a lot is, well, we live in these smaller places, especially
in California, how can we have the freezer space. So I get into all
of that you can just get freezer bags, you can freeze them flat and
you can stack 1020 meals easily even in the smallest of freezers.
And depending on the size of your family, like you guys will adjust
and you can figure out what works best for you and show.
You also save money you guys buying food in bulk. Buying meats
and vegetables in bulk actually helps you save it in the long run.
So you'll have more money to donate for silicones again,
inshallah Ramadan.
Here I just go through a quick recipe renovation of like a
healthy kind of meal prep idea for one day in Ramadan.
In the workbook because I told you, there's an accompanying
workbook, Inshallah, you'll find lots of different tools to help
you maximise on it. So you have this so hoarder or menu, plan, the
dinner, I've taught mini plan, and then the grocery lists and then to
help you assist you with if you do decide to go with freezer meals,
what's in your freezer to just know what you have, and then
organize yourself accordingly. So the one reason I did the grocery
list for every single week of Ramadan, because again, shopping
happens to be one of the bigger items that takes our time. So if
we have a grocery list and we know what we're going into the store to
buy, we're going to be fast and we're going to be efficient. We're
also not going to be going into the store hung
array, buying a bunch of things that we don't need, both unhealthy
and wasteful. So organizing that grocery list going and being
disciplined to only get what's on there really helps us stay focused
for our goals inshallah. And as we said, we really don't want to
spend Ramadan with a lot of waste Alhamdulillah we are fasting
during the day, and we have to be aware of our physical capacities.
And oftentimes, we can't eat as much as our minds are tricking us
into thinking weekend because we're fasting so planning now
while you are not fasting helps kind of visualize that.
So, as again, Imam dos Masha Allah said, We want to welcome Ramadan
as a guest. If we have guests coming into our house, we go
through and we do the deepest cleaning, we're scrubbing, we're
organizing, we're getting everything ready and prepared. We
are so excited that these people are coming into our homes, our
personal spaces, well, with Ramadan coming, Ramadan is our
guest. So I would highly recommend going through a nice deep clean
prior to Ramadan, these are all steps that you can do before
Ramadan. So that when you come into it, you come into it with the
mindset like, Okay, this is my environment, this is fresh, set up
a little prayer space for yourself, have a masala put on
your most half your tisby I have all your God in one place place,
it really helps you kind of get into the right mind space to best
utilize your environment.
And then the other thing is, you know, you've gotten a little bit
of a head start for need. So it helps from the law, obviously,
we're still going to have the everyday daily cleaning, but doing
that deep cleaning, you know, it really makes a big difference
I like to use that example.
You know, when we are getting ready to cook, and we go into the
kitchen, if it's messy, do we want to clean? Do we want to cook I
mean, nobody wants that. So with Ramadan coming, make sure your
environment is welcoming of it. And so this is also kind of the
fun element if you especially if you have kids decorate, there are
a lot of simple, affordable ways to decorate the house. We saw that
I saw a bunch of decorations outside by the vendors if you guys
want to take even the simpler route and just grabbed some jello.
But this the sheets that I have just help you kind of give you
that checklist. Remember things that you might not necessarily
have remembered.
Another huge time saver. So one year it was Ramadan. And it was
the last 10 nights of Ramadan. And I was like oh my goodness, I have
to go buy gifts. I need to eat clothes for my kids. What am I
going to do? So naturally? What do we do we get in the car, and we go
to the mall.
While I was there, I was shocked. I mean, I shouldn't be shocked. I
was there. But it was filled with Muslimeen. Like every single store
I saw so many. There were probably more Muslims in the mall that time
than anybody else. And I kept thinking I was like this is the
last 10 nights of Ramadan.
This is precious time. And we're spending it in the mall.
Subhanallah we have one week left. If the only thing you do is
prepare for Eid, get the outfits done, get the decorations done.
Get all the gifts done. Now, imagine that's one less thing to
spend your last during your last 10 nights in sha Allah.
So again, yeah, lots of organizers to help you guys remember and so
you don't forget anyone.
The next big thing that I found really helped save time for me.
As I mentioned, I have four young boys and a handler these days,
there are so many
products and people that inspire us to engage a love of learning
with our kids, especially during Ramadan.
So when I began, my kids are a little bit older now. But when I
began many years ago, there wasn't as many things that we had
available to us. So I wanted to make sure that Ramadan wasn't
spent just you know, depriving ourselves of food and then
sticking the kids in front of the TV for long periods of time. Just
because we were exhausted. So what I decided to do was help organize
my time and activities for the kids in advance. So again, prior
to them alone, this is another thing you guys can start planning
from now. So everybody likes Taco Tuesday, right? How about tip sia
Tuesday's? Get your family in the habit of getting these fun
activities together, grab Ramadan or Islamic themed books. You know,
there are so many actually amazing Islamic games as well that they
can play and be
entertained with
During this month that have positive Islamic values. So
knowing these things and doing a little bit of time and research,
maybe purchasing them in advance, or planning your own activities,
you know, this is the time to do it from the law. And then again,
the calendar and the planner just helps you find it all in one
place.
And I know, sometimes we just get to those points, we're working,
we're exhausted, and we will use the screens, it's inevitable,
there's gonna be those moments where we are feeling exhausted. So
what I highly suggest in those moments, is have yourself a
YouTube playlist with positive Ramadan content for kids. We have
things that feature Ismail Hasina, the names of Allah, we have
beautiful Islamic nasheeds we have all of these different things,
again, to enhance our Ramadan experience, but also being mindful
of our physical limitations and our emotional, you know, pushing
points. So utilize the resources that we have. Just prep it now so
that when you're in Ramadan, you're not like scrambling Wait,
is that a good content? Is that a good thing, you have something
already gravitated towards your children, or your family's needs,
your siblings needs you can be get the Hessonite for helping family
out. So inshallah it's just something to be reflective of and
to help in your planning.
So now we've thought about everyone else. What about our
spiritual goals? What about ourselves? Do we want to finish a
Quran hotma this month? Do we want to memorize new dots? Do we want
to be more involved in the communities and help with the
endeavors that they've already started and facilitated, you know,
writing down your daily routine, your daily goals will help kind of
keep yourself on track. So again, when you're tired, and you need
some kind of inspiration, you can go back like, oh, I wanted to do
that today. And again, if you need to, there are a lot of amazing
resources online and virtually, where they have 30 days of
beautiful content to follow along with.
So that's why I always add the links, because we can use
technology to our benefit in sha Allah, especially during Ramadan.
So to help you set your spiritual goals, I have a ton of content.
I'm the law. So I told you I'm very big about intellectual goals,
emotional goals, and then also physical goals. So for kind of
reflecting on the type of different types of a Bad's our
worship, it's just it's very helpful. So in here, you'll find
tons of reflection and writing prompts. To get you thinking about
all the different elements of our religion, it teaches you how to
read doesn't teach you, it guides you on how we can read Hadith and
then not just read it as it is, but learn how to interpret it
within ourselves and what the lessons we can benefit from and
start actually implementing within our lives in sha Allah. And then
it's just positive guides to be reflective, for example, having
better who shorten our prayer, we're all at different levels. So
each thing is just meant to help us improve so when we leave
Ramadan, we're feeling like we are one step ahead of where we were
coming into it in sha Allah
so like I said, there's gonna also be tons of helpful resource
sheets. So I like to call this also it's not just preparing for
Ramadan, but it's also what I like to use as my a bad the binder.
Like it has everything easily accessible for me. So if I'm going
to the masjid I want, I'll just grab it and go. So it has a smile
hasna in it, it has written in Arabic, the transliteration and
the meaning. It has a god and the healthful benefits of them. It has
all the different types of dots that you can utilize throughout
the month and daily kindness challenges, or good deed
challenges so that we can give unto others. As you said, there,
Jose said, We are a company. We are a religion that really
emphasizes being there for one another in our community. So
setting those daily goals for ourselves is really important as
well, such as Siddhartha Lohan maintaining family ties. So
there's a checklist to kind of help you remember remind yourself,
hey, you know what, let me call them. You know, we have long
commutes, how can we utilize our commutes better, we can call
family member, we can listen to Quran, we do our morning of God
Subhan Allah, we have lots of opportunities. So these will just
help guide you and facilitate it. Oh, one of the things that I love
to do, especially with it for younger kids and yourself is if
you're looking to to memorize some dots for Ramadan. What I like to
do is I like to copy it maybe on cardstock paper, and then I'll cut
it out and I'll tape it into the area where it's most relevant with
it.
So when I was earlier when I was still learning and
getting familiarized with certain dot, for example, the dot for
traveling, every time I got in the car, I printed it out and I put it
on my dashboard. So when I got there, I was like, oh, yeah, I
have to say that da. And then the repetition of continuously saying
it helps you memorize it Hamdulillah. So do this with any
kind of diet that you're wanting to incorporate. You know, the one
that when you're looking into the mirror, when you're leaving the
house, there are so many beneficial ones that we can kind
of incorporate into our day.
One thing I want to mention before I go on is, you know, Ramadan is
hamdulillah a prime time to fast.
But it's not only about the fasting, there are many people
that can't fast for different reasons, whether it be for females
being incapable at certain times, sickness or age. So like I said,
there are tons of checklists, organizers and calculators in
here.
For physical goals, exercise for me is is very important for my
emotional state of being. So being self aware as instead of assays
that has taught me that I need to release some of my energy
sometimes. So I have to kind of incorporate times for physical
exercise for my emotional intellectual goals. So one of the
ways that I kind of advise this if during Ramadan, there are actually
Tips and Tricks within it, but one of the ways that I advise to if
you feel like you don't have time is simple little tricks. Like if
you're going to go to Delaware, Park far, intentionally parked far
you'll find better parking spaces and then that walk to total we
would do your health, a lot of good inshallah. So little things
like that. It's just reframing every act that we do, consciously
to give us the best chance to accomplish our goals. So another
thing that I highly advise is
vitamins.
You know, understanding what our bodies might be lacking,
especially during Ramadan when we aren't eating. Sometimes the most
balanced diets you know, we might need a little bit of additional
additional help. For me personally with my gut health probiotics
changed my Ramadan's. I was always feeling sick and weighed down.
Then when I started taking probiotics consistently throughout
Ramadan, it really enhanced experience I felt more energy, I
was able to get through it without feeling sick. So Subhan Allah
vitamins you know, speak with your doctors speak with a nutritionist
and hamdulillah see what your body might need to give you that little
boost of energy as well.
Yeah, it also gives lots of tips for could add hikma how to
organize if doors because, you know, we will most likely have if
tortoise during Ramadan.
So if you do it just being organized, it really helps assist
with that. And then if you are going to miss fast, you don't want
to, you know, lose track of the days that you didn't fast so
there's a nice organizer in there for that as well. It also
discusses the different types of Zika in South Africa. It gives you
tips and tricks for how to finish a Quran clip mount within the
month of Ramadan. For example, if you only read four pages a day,
I'm sorry, not a day, per sulla with each of your FISA laws,
you're finished a hitman. In the month, you finished completing the
recitation of the entire Quran, masha Allah.
So now we have all of these goals set for ourself. Where do we find
the time, we talked about like the little tips and tricks to kind of
enter it into our lives? But how do we give ourselves bigger blocks
of time during Ramadan? For this, I give two options because as
individuals, we are going to gravitate our own personal growth
in different ways. So it's important to have different
options available to us. So I have the weekly schedule, which is a
block calendar. And then we also have the schedule tied to Salam.
So when the block calendar with the block calendar, what you can
do is you can write in the timeframes throughout your day,
and then block out all the times that you know that you can't do
something. For example, you're at work, you're in class, your kids
activity, then when the free time blocks that you see
plug it in, as if it is work.
We wouldn't miss work one day say Oh, I don't feel like going to
work. No, we make the time for it from a bonus for weeks long. So if
we plug in those a bad times those times of worship within our
calendar, we should be as consistent with them as we would
our normal work schedule, or our kids activities.
or any other type of event in our lives. So holding ourselves
accountable in that manner really helps us stay in line and focused.
The second one is our schedule tied to sulla. So a lot of times,
making something turning something into a habit becomes easier if we
connect it with something that we're already doing.
So, like I said, for myself, I'm a very physical person. So I wanted
to incorporate more exercise in my life, but I had very young kids.
So I couldn't think how can I find that balance for myself. So what I
did was, every time I was giving them a bath, I would be in the
bathroom right there watching them making sure they were safe. But
then I would do squats crunches, or I would do something physical,
like some kind of exercise, while I'm sitting there, letting them
play, have a little bit of fun, but I discipline myself that way.
And so every time they were giving a bath, I got myself so
consistently, I tied it so consistently to that, that it
became like a routine. We can do that same concept with our a bed
the goals tied to our salon. So our salons is something that
grounds us, it reminds us throughout the day to remember
last pantalla so when we're doing that, and we're taking the time
out for prayer, we can add something additionally into that
we can add our Quran recitation in there, we can add our of God. Or
like we said, you can see a little while maintaining family ties,
doing positive things SubhanAllah. So we can tie it to our salons
just to help instill within ourselves that habit.
So now, we're in Ramadan. And we want to make sure that all of
these amazing goals we've set for ourselves are actually being
attained. What I provided was a daily check in for yourself. So
every day of Ramadan, we have our Solana tracker, we have our
fasting tracker, where you are in the Quran, and then some points
for reflection. So we have like a daily could and gem. So what I
highly recommend, don't just read, recite the Quran, definitely
recite it in sha Allah, but try and learn its interpretation. When
we do that, when we reflect on its meaning, we have a deeper
connection with it. And we're more inspired to continuously read on a
daily basis, leaving Ramadan in sha Allah.
Also, again, we are a community that thinks of others. So trying
to do a good deed every single day, a kindness for others, and
reflecting on that so we can continuously add more of that on a
daily basis is a really positive thing.
Now we have so many pressures, we have so much going on in our
lives. How can we keep our emotions in check? How can we help
self regulate ourselves. So on a daily basis, I give less stress
less tips. So every day is a different tip to help you find
yourself and ground yourself. Just so that on a consistent basis, we
can become more aware when we are feeling emotionally imbalanced.
And we can put the steps in place to help self regulate ourselves.
Then, of course, so the cons occur, Ramadan is the best time to
do our yearly Zica Alhamdulillah if we put in that amount,
especially the last 10 Nights, it again keeps us on track and keeps
us giving in sha Allah purifying our wealth. And then just for
those who are especially I love this one, I used to love doing it
with my kids. And I love it for myself. I like having trivia
challenges, but Islamically themed trivia challenges, because like
your mom, dad said, we want to kind of make this like our
religion engaging and interesting. So by having some fun or elements
for our kids making it interesting, it just helps us stay
on track. Then also reflection section, setting exercise goals
for ourselves, making sure we're drinking enough water so that we
are feeling energized. And then also the healthy food or dates of
the day.
Now we have little less than a week left to Ramadan. This is the
last part.
How can we kind of take everything all of our goals all of our
aspirations, and how can we break it into a To Do lists for
ourselves? Don't think that tomorrow you're going to be able
to sit there and get everything done and done and you're going to
be
miraculously prepared for Ramadan. Know you have a week left every
day set for yourself. compartmentalize your tasks into
easy digestible amounts so that you're not feeling overburdened or
overstressed prior to welcoming and coming into Ramadan in sha
Allah
Again, one thing that I love to emphasize is utilize the resources
in our community, masha Allah, we have a wealth of knowledge. We
have amazing food vendors, we have so much available to us that if we
just consciously realize everything that we have, and then
utilize them in those times where we are feeling exhausted, and
Hamdulillah, we're giving back to our community, but at the same
time, we're helping ourselves. So being mindful of that is just
something I like to promote.
And then this is the final slide inshallah leaving, we were talking
predominantly about preparing for Ramadan. But I also really want us
to get into the habit of okay, what how can I take what I've done
and how I benefit in Ramadan? And how can I move it forward. So one
of the best things is just to kind of find balance within ourselves
by setting goals and the different parts of who we are. So their mind
or body and our heart are different types of goals that we
can set for ourselves.
And then in sha Allah, we can turn these things into habits. And next
Ramadan will just keep adding and adding and adding and show.
So Hamdulillah
I think I've
talked quite a bit. I wanted to ask if you guys had any questions,
any feedback, reflections?
Just
is there like a soft, soft copy version of this book? I'm sorry,
what a soft copy version, a printable copy.
There's not but it's available on Amazon and Etsy. And we have it on
the vendor store outside the physical book or the soft copy the
physical Okay, thank you so much. And Shawn, no problem.
Any other comments, questions? Reflections?
Michelle Sharla.
Sloth, Megan, thank you for sharing this in like really
beneficial tips, especially the time saving in the kitchen one. So
I had a question. So I know you're talking a bit about women who
might not be fasting during Ramadan. So I'm breastfeeding.
This Ramadan, I don't think I'll be able to fast do you have any
advice specifically for breastfeeding mothers, on how to
make the most of this Ramadan, because we won't be fasting, I
feel like I'll miss out on a lot of
feeling, you know, spiritually in touch with the month. Yeah,
Hamdulillah.
This was something I feel like is very prominent in our communities,
like,
we kind of tie all of our spiritual connection to the
ritualistic aspects of worship. But Subhanallah, like, San Jose
was saying there are so many emotional connections between our
religion. So in the, in the workbook, we talked about a
thought going over a smell has the names of Allah, you know, really
connecting with the different parts of our religion, setting
intellectual goals for ourselves, donating and volunteering your
time at the communities, I know you have a newborn, so it might be
a little bit more difficult with your time. But just being a part
of these experiences don't feel like just because you're not
fasting that you can't be engaged, you can't be a part of these type
of things. And then there are so many goals that you can set for
yourself that I've gone over and there are worksheets for it, that
aren't tied to fasting. So um, one thing that I used to do because I
have four boys hamdulillah was I would set a lot of my memorization
goals during Ramadan.
So I would do my morning off cod, try and memorize dots and memorize
a lot of the Quran as much of the Quran as I could during those
times where I wasn't fasting. So at least I felt like I had that
connection with the Quran when I couldn't feel like my physical
connection with the fasting was there.
And as well even although you're you're breastfeeding, you could
still do all of the philos and the Sunnah Salas maybe take turns if
it's possible with your spouse to go to a Ouija to be engaged in
that congregation with the community. It really does help
your morale as a as a mom, a new mom and hamdulillah so then
definitely Halak does, and lectures.
I really want to thank MCC for hosting just that class I had
Thank you brother Mihnea for all of your efforts and hamdulillah
and Imam Dodon southern Jose for contributing and Hamdulillah
he left okay hola Central. I really wanted him to finish with
the dot but mashallah they both finished their sections with a.so
I'll just close off and hamdulillah just o'clock late on
again. I pray that we all make it to Ramadan I pray we benefit from
this month.
Anything that you may have benefited from today is from Allah
subhanaw taala anything that was wrong or incorrect is solely from
me in sha Allah
we